Break
by atideintheaffairs
Summary: Nathan and Haley are both single parents dealing with the challenges that life has brought them. When Nathan finally breaks down and decides he needs a nanny, will Haley be able to help?


"Nathan, son, you really need to hire a nanny." His mother said walking into his home office. "I love you, and I love Lucy, Eliot, and Conner, but I can't spend every day watching them and you can't work and keep an eye on three kids under four. Ever since the divorce you have been trying to do everything but you can't."

"I don't want a someone else taking care of my kids mom." He said rolling his eyes.

"What's better, having someone who is capable and trusting watch your children, or you go bankrupt because you can't focus on work?" She said nodding at him, as he sat in his desk chair, bouncing Eliot on his knee as Conner played in the playpen. "Where is Lucy?"

"She went to the bathroom. Do you really think I'm a bad father who doesn't know where his four year old is?" He said defensively.

"No Nathan, I don't mean that you are a bad father, you just need some help. You are so stressed out and something will fall through the cracks. It might be the company, or it might be one of the kids getting hurt while you try to be Superman." Deb said grabbing Eliot.

"Well then, who do you suggest?" He sighed, even though it wasn't what he wanted, his mother was right, and one of the kids could get hurt because he was being selfish.

"Didn't Lucas say he had a friend who could a while back?" She questioned, her relationship with Lucas over the past few years was rocky but now that Nathan accepted his half-brother, she was trying have a relationship with him as well.

Nathan ran his hand through his hair in thought. "Yeah, I'll call him."

"Alright, I'm going to take the kids to play out back."

* * *

"Sam, Penny, let's go we're going to be late." Haley James yelled down the hall at her children, right before her phone started ringing. "Great" She muttered. "Hello."

"Hey Hales, it's Luke." Her best friend since kindergarden said over the phone.

"Hi Luke, is this important? I'm running late." She said throwing her purse over her shoulder. "Samuel, Penelope, c'mon." She yelled once more.

"Actually it is, Nathan called me, he does want a nanny."

"Are you serious?" Haley asked dropping her purse excitedly.

"Yeah, 9-5 Monday to Friday. And every other Saturday. He works at home so he will always be there, but he can't keep his eyes on them and his company above water."

"No way that's great."

"He wants to interview you this afternoon, how is 2?"

Haley sighed "I have a shift at the cafe." She had been working at his mother's cafe to make ends meet.

"I can cover you, just get to that interview." Haley sighed shutting the phone, with a huge smile on her face.

* * *

Haley stood at Nathan Scott's door at exactly two in the afternoon. She rang the doorbell and stood with her hands behind her back. Less than a minute later Nathan opened the door. "Hi, I'm Haley James." She smiled extending her hand.

"Nathan Scott." He said quickly shaking her hand and leading her into the house, into his office. "I don't have much time so let's just cut to the chase, what experience do you have?"

"I have been around kids for several years, I was a teacher at one point, and have often been trusted with children in my care." Haley answered quickly taking a seat in front of his desk. She didn't want to say about her own children because that would lead to questions, questions she was not ready to answer.

Nathan nodded before asking her a series of more questions, which she answered expertly. He slowly nodded once more, feeling completely comfortable to leave his children in her care, but not because of her answers. He felt this way because of Lucas's recommendation, his brother had been by his side through everything and always had his back. But most importantly, he trusted this woman because of the vibe she sent him, and the atmosphere she created in the room, just with her presence. "Come with me." He said getting up and motioning with his hand for her to get up and follow him. He slowly moved through the house before turning a corner and leaning on the door frame, looking into the room in front of him. Haley stayed behind him and watched as three young children played "Here Eliot, you can play with this." The little brown haired, blue eyed, girl said handing her brother a different toy as she sat down next to him to play with her doll. "No Conner, don't touch!" She said quickly pulling it away from her other brother.

"Lucy remember the rules, you have to share." An older woman said from her seat on the couch.

"Are you sure you're up for this?" Nathan whispered looking back at Haley.

"Definitely." She said nodding, not taking her eyes off the children, they were beautiful and she already felt and attachment to them.

"Alright then, let me give you a tour of the house and tell you our routine." Nathan smiled. "The twins will be one and a half later this month, and Lucy just turned four."

* * *

Two months later.

Haley took a deep breath as she pushed the double stroller through the garage door after a trip to the park, "Alright Lucy, want lunch now?" She asked looking down at the young girl before unbuckling the twins from the stroller. She stood Conner up on the ground before lifting Eliot out.

"Yes!" She said excitedly. "Can we have tuna melts?"

Haley thought back in her head, they hadn't had those since almost two weeks ago. "Sure, help Conner into the kitchen okay?"

Lucy nodded walking into the house as Haley locked the garage door and followed behind. "Hi Nathan" She smiled seeing him seated at the kitchen counter stool. "Sorry we are a little late, somebody wanted a few extra rides on the slide." Haley laughed nodding towards Lucy.

"That's fine." He said dismissively. "Did you have fun Luce?" Nathan asked, lifting Conner up and ruffling her hair in the process.

"So much fun, I got further on the monkey bars today!" She said excitedly

"That's great." He smiled, buckling Conner into his height chair.

After placing Eliot in his height chair Haley got out the things to make their sandwiches as long as the food for Nathan's. A week after she started she realized that Nathan ate the same thing for lunch everyday, so since then when she prepared lunch for herself and the kids, she made Nathan's as well. Conversation between them had been short, she said hello and goodbye every morning, made small talk with him when they did run into each other, and told him about the children's accomplishments and problems before she left all day, but that was really all. He was short with her on most occasions. After all she was here to work, while he was working.

Nathan looked to make sure both boys were safe, and noticed Lucy was now coloring so he moved closer to Haley and said quietly. "I need to speak with you in the other room."

She didn't answer she only followed him into the den where he closed the door halfway behind them. "What the hell was that Haley?" He asked angrily.

"What?" She asked stepping back.

"Your phone?" He questioned as she knit her eyebrows together and pulled it out of her back pocket, noticing five missed calls from Nathan.

"Oh my God, I'm so sorry I must have turned it on silent when..." She started.

"Do you know how scared I was, this can and will not happen again. Do you not understand how..." Nathan started before Haley cut him off as well.

"Important to you they are. I know that Nathan they are the three most important people in the world to you and I understand your concern. I'm sorry and it will never happen again." She quickly explained as he calmed down.

Nathan nodded and somewhat relaxed. "I was worried Haley, you have to be more careful. You're lucky, if it was anybody else they'd be fired right now. You're lucky because my mother lives across the street from the park and before I left to find you I thought to call her. She saw you and said you were okay."

"I will be more careful." She nodded assuredly.

"But on a side note, aside from this event, the kids seem to really connect with you and you're doing great. It would be a shame if something stupid like that stopped you from being with them everyday. Don't let it happen again." He warned with a slight smile as she only nodded once more and followed him back to the kitchen.

* * *

"Hello?" Haley said unlocking the door to the Scott household a few mornings later.

"We're up in the boys room." Nathan called out moments later. Haley dropped her purse on the front bench and kicked off her shoes as usual.

Walking into the room she saw Eliot playing on the floor in his pajamas as Nathan changed Conner.

"Are they just waking up?" She asked confused.

"Yeah. My Uncle came into town last night and they were playing with him. I didn't realize how late it was until it was already past ten." Nathan explained turning around and setting Conner on the ground, in only his diaper, before picking up Eliot to change his diaper as well.

"Oh okay" She said moving to the boys dresser and grabbing the twins outfits for the day. Haley took a seat in front of Conner and began to change him. Nathan took a seat next to Haley, grabbed the outfit beside her, and started to change Eliot. "I'm sorry for whatever problems that causes you today, because their schedule is all thrown off."

"It's okay." She smiled. "I can handle this if you want to get to work."

He nodded and started to get up "I'll go wake up Lucy though, that is a wrath you should not have to deal with this morning." Haley laughed, knowing exactly what he meant, having to wake her up from a few naps already.

* * *

Haley shut the door walking out of the twin's room the next Monday. Both were down for their nap, with the help of Lucy. "Alright Lucy, why don't you go lie down."

"I'm not tired." She protested with her big puppy dog eyes.

Haley knew the little girl must be exhausted but wasn't going to force her. "Fine, do you want to lie in the den and I'll put on a movie for you."

"Yes!" She jumped.

* * *

Ten minutes later after Lucy finally picked a movie Haley made her way towards Nathan's office nervously. She knocked on the door and heard a muttered "Come in"

"Hey" She smiled.

"Hi, is there a problem?" He quickly asked.

"No...well yes, but the boys are napping, and Lucy is watching a movie in the den." She said biting her lip and taking a seat in front of his desk. Nathan looked up confused.

"What's up?"

"Is there any way that today, and for the next few days, I could leave at 3:30, not five?" She asked slowly.

"No" He said quickly answering her question, he didn't have time for this, he had a deadline to meet.

"What if I took the kids with me and came right back." She questioned.

"Where?" He questioned only for her not to answer. "No. I have too much work to do to handle this and have you running all over the city with my kids."

Haley bit her lip, she didn't want to, but it had come to this. "Then I have to quit." She said as standing up and moving to leave.

"God damn it Haley, what is so important huh?" He said throwing his pen on his desk.

"My kids." She said quietly looking up at him.

"You...you have kids?" He questioned before nodding toward her hand "But there's no ring."

"You don't have one either, Nathan." She said defensively.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean it like that it's just...you're so young, I didn't think you had kids."

"Yeah, the son of a bitch knocked me up when I was 17." She muttered. "I have two."

"Why do you have to leave?" He questioned, really confused.

"Normally they take the bus to my mom's house and I pick them up after work but she has the flu. The latest after school program the school offers ends at 4 and I have no one else to pick them up."

"What school do they go to?"

"Washington, right off of Fremont."

Nathan thought for a minute, "What if the bus drops them off here?"

"I looked, there isn't a stop nearby."

"I have pull with the school district because I basically paid for the entire new library to be built and everything in it, I could have them get dropped off here this week."

"Really?" She said surprised.

"Sure, let me make some calls."

"Thank you Nathan." He only nodded as she left the office.

"Oh and don't take the kids anywhere after nap, there is supposed to be a really bad rain storm later."

* * *

Haley sighed and looked at the five children all seated in front of her. She had convinced Lucy to color with Nell and Sam in front of the tv as she kept an eye on the twins who were playing with their trucks. This was exhausting. She looked at the clock and realized it was almost time for her to leave, so she started to gather the kids book bags and move them towards the door. Haley had moved the kids into the room with the least amount of windows because the storm had gotten so bad and she didn't want it to scare them.

"You can go anywhere." Nathan said quietly walking down the stairs from his office. "They shut down the roads because the storm is so bad."

"Are you kidding me?" She asked as her eyes widened, what was she going to do now? "I mean, I'm sure we could make it, it's a quick drive."

"Haley, there is no way in hell that I'm letting you go out in this." He said pointing to the torrential downpour out front just as a lightning bolt came down and a new round of thunder started. Haley jumped slightly before checking on the kids, the tv was up so loud they didn't even hear it. "You can stay here in the guest bedroom."

"Thanks Nathan" She said moving along side of him as they turned to look into the living room.

"So those are your kids huh?"

"Yeah" She smiled "They are all mine. Samuel and Penelope, but I call them Sam and Penny or Nell."

"They're beautiful." Nathan said looking at her.

"Thank you, yours aren't too bad yourself." Haley said nudging his elbow with hers as he laughed. "Now I noticed you have some premade dough in the fridge, what do you say we make pizzas for dinner?"

"Sounds great, let's let the kids help."

"Just what I was thinking" Haley said moving to lift up Eliot, "Alright, who wants to help make pizza." And as Haley said that all of the kids eyes lit up.

* * *

Haley sighed as she shut the door to the guest room, leaned against the wall in the hall, and shut her eyes.

"You okay?" Nathan asked quietly. Eliot and Conner had went to bed an hour ago and he just finished reading Lucy her story.

Haley nodded and stepped away from the room, Nathan followed her down the stairs where they then picked up their conversation. "Nell is just so attached to me after everything and just getting her to bed is exhausting."

"I understand." Nathan said shaking his head. "Being a single parent is hard, but I was lucky with the fact that Lucy was still too young to really question it."

"They both...saw it all and it traumatized them. I traumatized them." She said looking down shaking her head.

"Haley. Don't talk like that. I know we aren't close but I can tell by the way you are with my kids, that you are a great mother. You can talk to me about this all if you want."

"Chris...pressured me to sleep with him. I had never had a boyfriend before and he convinced me that for any man to stay with me I had to have sex with him, so I did. And I got pregnant. So we took the traditional route and got married. He convinced me that he loved me and for the next four years I thought our life was perfect and we were the happiest couple and family, but we weren't. It was a rose colored glasses experience, but then money got tight and he took out his aggression out on me, physically." Haley shed a tear that she quickly wiped away, and took a deep shaky breath. "And for two years I let him. He beat me and hurt me, but then...then he hit Sam. I screamed and I cried and I hit him. He hit me back and we got into a fight. After he drank away his sorrows another night, he went to sleep and I packed up our things. That morning when he went to work I took the kids to the police station, and reported him. He was arrested and a restraining order was issued. I moved in with my parents, and here I am two years later."

"Oh my God Haley, I'm so sorry."

"It's taken me a lot of therapy, and help from my family but now I'm living in my own apartment with the kids, my mom watches them for two hours but I'm on my own and it couldn't feel better. It's hard."

"No, no, I understand." Nathan said, "Why don't we go get some tea or something."

Ten minutes later the pair was seated on the floor of Nathan's den, two classes of tea, and the fire lit. "So what about you?" Haley quietly whispered.

"I really thought I loved her, we dated for a year before I proposed and then we found out Rachel was pregnant with Luce. We didn't get married right away but once we did everything went downhill. We found out she was pregnant again and just kept fighting. I found out she had an affair before the twins were conceived but she apologized and we tried to work through it, but then when the boys turned one I found her with another man in our house. I packed up our things and left. I stayed with my mom for a while, until I got us a new house. The kids were in daycare but I hated the thought of them being out of the house all day everyday."

"I just feel bad for the kids." Haley sighed. "They don't have a father."

"I know how you feel." Nathan said shaking his head.

* * *

Haley groaned sitting up the next morning. She could hear Sam and Penny arguing already. Haley had slept on the couch, but her and Nathan didn't head to bed until the early morning because they were talking.

"Hey guys, what's the problem?" She heard Nathan asked them as he solved the problem before she could even get up to them.

"Good morning." Nathan smiled at Haley as she walked into the hall where he stood.

"Morning, what do you want for breakfast?" She asked.

"Why don't we have the kids help us make eggs?"

"Okay" Haley smiled, and so they did. Nathan and Haley worked together like a well oiled machine handling all five kids and having them help. It was almost like they had been doing it for years. Together.

* * *

Later in the day when Sam and Nell were at school, and the rest of the kids were napping she snuck herself into the guest bedroom and retrieved the presents and wrapping paper from the closet. Earlier in the week Nathan had asked her to wrap some of the kids Christmas presents because he was terrible at it and felt that they deserved beautiful presents. Haley knew they wouldn't care what the presents looked like, but happily obliged. She loved Christmas. So each day during nap time she would wrap a few. Haley got so caught up in it that she also started to sing. Within a few minutes, Nathan appeared leaning on the door frame.

"Oh sorry, was I that loud that I disrupted you?" She asked realizing he heard her singing in his office.

"No, keep going. I like it." He smiled taking a seat across from her.

He started to wrap presents with her as she continued to sing. When she finished that song she paused and thought. "I love Christmas...just everything about it. I love wrapping presents and I don't have many this year, so it's nice to wrap a few more."

Nathan reached in his back pocket and pulled out his wallet. Handing Haley a stack of bills he said "Here take this.".

"No, I couldn't." Haley insisted.

"Buy something for the kids. Consider it your Christmas bonus." Nathan insisted.

"Thank you." Haley said sincerely, looking him in the eyes. The pair stared at each other for a long time before Nathan leaned in and kissed her. The kiss lasted a while and when it was over the two wrapped together until the kids woke. They didn't talk about the kiss but simply joked and flirted with one another. It was odd, but neither felt reserved against the other. Haley could have felt afraid because of what Chris did to her, but she knew she could trust Nathan and was sick of not living her life. She spent so much time in therapy and was just ready to move on, as was Nathan. This just felt different, and both of them knew it.

* * *

For the rest of the day the pair exchanged looks and smiles. Right before Haley's shift was over Nathan pulled her aside. "Stay the night again."

"Nathan." She said looking away embarrassed.

He put his hands to her face and held her chin as he kissed her once more. "Please, we can talk?"

"Okay" She quickly agreed.

And they did exactly that, when the kids were in bed the pair once again sat together talking. "What does this mean?" Haley asked as Nathan raised his eyebrows in confusion. "Like...what do you want us to be?"

"Together." He answered simply. "I know this is sudden but...you're great with my kids, you're a great mother, I'm attracted to you, and it just seems right. I know you feel it too Haley, we should be together."

"But I'm your kids nanny, couldn't this get complicated?" Haley questioned. She wanted to just go with the flow, but she had two kids that she had to consider.

"You could be my kids mother." He said easily. "I'm not saying you have to be, or trying to rush you into anything, but I could picture spending forever with you Haley. I've felt this way for a while and when we're together things just feel right. I've never felt this way before and I know that it's something special, and I think you feel it too."

"Okay" Haley smiled looking into his eyes.

"What?" Nathan asked.

"I'll be your girlfriend." She said reaching out to hold his hand.

"Funny, I never asked you to be my girlfriend did I?" He joked.

"Well too bad because I am." She said scrunching up her nose as he kissed her forehead.

* * *

Since that day Haley never left. The next day she went to get more clothes for herself and the kids. She did that every few days until she just decided to give up her lease and move in with him. People thought they were crazy, but they knew they had something special. They were in love. Nathan waited almost two years before proposing and they were married the following summer on the beach. All of the kids adjusted easily, they all quickly adjusted to calling both Nathan and Haley mom and dad.

It was now five years later as Haley moved through the house packing lunches. Sam was now 12, Nell 10, Lucy 9, and the twins were almost 7.

"Lucy, come here so I can finish doing your hair." Haley shouted placing the lunches in the kids book bags.

"Sam give Eliot his shoes back please." Nathan shouted as well, he held two year old Mae as he walked into the kitchen. "Want me to take Mae with me when I take them to school with me?" He said before giving his wife a kiss.

"No it's okay, I could use some Mommy/Mae time." She smiled tickling her daughters stomach.

"And then she will go down for a nap after I get home and I can get some Mommy time." He smirked as Haley rolled her eyes. "How are you feeling this morning?" He asked placing his hand on her very round stomach.

"I'm fine, just thinking that we are soon going to have seven kids...are we crazy?"

"Nope, just in love." Nathan smiled and leaned in to kiss her once more, but before he could he heard the a dripping noise.

The two shared a look knowing both knowing what happened. "Did your water just..." He led off.

"Break...yeah." She said nervously. "Looks like Jamie is on his way." Haley smiled before kissing her husband once more.


End file.
